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~ DIANA ~

Lunar Virgin ~ Mother of Creatures ~ Huntress ~

Roman for Queen of Heaven.

In Greece,
She was called
Artemis.

She is notorious
for the love
of exclusively
female company,
Her animals being
the dog & the stag,
and She uses a bow & arrow
for Her hunting adventures!

In ancient Italy,
Her major pilgrimage centers were
Ephesus
and Nemi,
the Sacred Grove,
found on the only accessible shore
of a volcanic lake,
known as
"The Mirror of Diana".

The cult of Diana
was so pervasive among pagans
that early Christians
had perceived Her
as their major rival,
which might explain
Her later title
on the books as,
"Queen of Witches".

Maybe it was that
exclusively
female
companionship
that helped earn Her this name!

We like thinking of Her
as representing the free spirit of
Sagittarius!

Patroness of nursing, healing, childbirth,
mountains, and the woods,
She was also a favorite among outlaws
(gypsies, tramps?)
and thieves.

Roman towns
all over Europe
habitually called the local mother goddess,
Diana,
as later Christian townships were to call Her,
Madonna.

One of the earliest churches devoted to
"Our Lady",
existed at Ephesus
in 431 A.D.,
but most people believed
that Lady to be
Diana,
not Mary.

In 432,
the Council of Ephesus
tried to eradicate worship of this pagan Goddess,
but the bishops were besieged by
a community declaring
"Give us our Diana of the Ephesians!"

Interestingly enough,
there are those that claim
that the tomb of Mary
is in Ephesus.

Also of note,
there is a myth about a
"Widow of Ephesus".

Petronius
documents
that the Widow
hung the dead body of her husband
on one of the three crosses
in front of a temple
belonging to Diana,
replacing the body
of a previously crucified
thief.

Then she lay
with her new lover
at the foot of the cross.

Does this at all seem familiar?

In the 5th Century,
Gauls
regarded Her
as their supreme deity.
Christians spoke in hushed tones
about that pagan custom of the Gauls
adoring the spirit of Diana
in a cut branch.
(who be these? gardeners?)

In the 7th Century,
a Frankish chieftain,
publicly doubted the claim
of a Christian missionary,
on the grounds that
the Christian god was
"no better than our own Diana."

In the 10th Century,
there are records
referring to
women
who attended
night meetings
with the pagan Goddess,
Diana.

Officers of the Inquisition
regarded Diana as the
"Goddess of the heathen",
and worship of Diana was denounced
wherever it was found,
even if the worshippers were
a member of the clergy!

The notorious inquisitor
Torquemada
declared:
"Diana is the devil!"
(extra ,extra, read all about it!)

With that in mind,
we felt Diana
deserved
a prominent place at our altar.

She has such a rich history as
a lover
and supporter of
women,
and symbolizes both
self-sufficiency
and freedom
from the limiting yoke of patriarchy!

You go Goddess!